Our old friend Bill Simmons fleshes out his email riff on Steve Buckley into an ESPN column concluding, basically, that the Red Sox were good this year, just not good enough and got a few bad breaks, and there’s not much else to say about them. A sober assessment, and a grim view of the panicky, bomb-throwing Boston media. I tend to agree with some of Bill’s diagnosis, although I still maintain that the acquisitions of Tony Clark and John Burkett were worthwhile gambles; as I’ve noted, Burkett was pitching well until the end of July and has pitched well of late, he just tanked so badly in August that he killed the Red Sox’ season. Frankly, Mike Mussina and Roger Clemens haven’t been a whole heck of a lot better, let alone the Twins’ big three starters. Pitchers can be like that. The only fair ground for ripping the Clark move is if you think the Sox either (1) ignored medical evidence or (2) ignored something in his fine but injury-limited play the last two years that suggested he was going to hit the wall at age 30.